Court in Japan orders the dissolution of the Unification Church
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TOKYO (AP) — The Unification Church in Japan was ordered dissolved by a court Tuesday after a government request spurred by the investigation into the 2022 assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The South Korea-based church said it was considering an immediate appeal of the Tokyo District Court’s revocation of its legal status, which would take away its tax-exempt privilege and require liquidation of its assets.
The order followed a request by Japan’s Education Ministry in 2023 to dissolve the influential South Korea-based sect, citing manipulative fundraising and recruitment tactics that sowed fear among followers and harmed their families.
In the ruling, the court said the church’s problems were extensive and continuous, and a dissolution order is necessary because it is not likely it could voluntarily reform, according to NHK television.
“We believe our claims were accepted,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters, adding the government will continue efforts to support victims of the church.
The Japanese branch of the church had criticized the request as a serious threat to religious freedom and the human rights of its followers.
The church called the court order regrettable and unjust and said in a statement the court’s decision was based on “a wrong legal interpretation and absolutely unacceptable.”
Tomihiro Tanaka, president of the church’s Japanese branch, accused the government of “fabricating damages.” The church is “not a malicious group that should be dissoloved,” he told a news conference on Tuesday.
The investigation into Abe’s assassination revealed links over decades between the church and Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party. The church obtained legal status as a religious organization in Japan in the 1960s during an anti-communist movement supported by Abe’s grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi.
Content retrieved from: https://apnews.com/article/japan-unification-church-dissolution-d5e1fdf3cb671d6ffeb45d75620ef8b2#.
